eBay Dials Up the Mobile Mainstream: 'eBay Anywhere' Promises eBay Access for any Internet-Enabled Mobile Device; 2Roam, Sprint, AT&T, Omnisky, Phone.com and OracleMobile Already on Board
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- eBay(R) [EBAY-news] (www.ebay.com), the world's leading person-to-person online trading community, today announced eBay Anywhere, a comprehensive new mobile strategy that aims to make eBay accessible from any Internet-enabled mobile device. From WAP mobile phones to the latest PDAs, eBay Anywhere brings together leading technology companies, mobile carriers, portals and hardware vendors -- with the goal of making eBay accessible to any user's choice of handheld Internet device. To provide the enabling wireless technology platforms for this effort, eBay has teamed-up with 2Roam, which will format and deliver eBay's content for virtually any mobile device on any carrier network. (Photo: newscom.com newscom.com ) eBay Anywhere will complement eBay's initial wireless steps -- the company's recently launched software application for the Palm VII and eBay's alert service from SkyTel, allowing users to receive auction updates on their pagers and cell phones. "Our aim is to make eBay accessible from any Internet-enabled device, be that the coolest new PDA from Palm or the latest Ericsson cell phone, over the Sprint PCS nationwide wireless network or AT&T's," said Brian Swette, eBay's Chief Operating Officer. "By teaming up with these great companies, we're providing wireless access to our millions of users and allowing them to choose how they would like to access eBay while on the go." The companies contributing to the eBay Anywhere strategy to date are: -- 2Roam. Using 2Roam's patented wireless solution for the Web, eBay plans to deliver the same high quality user experience for any type of wireless device that customers now get from their personal computer. 2Roam has developed a breakthrough platform that can translate eBay's Internet content into the myriad of wireless formats and carrier protocols that exists in today's market -- as well as new ones in the future. The goal is to allow any Internet-enabled mobile device to be able to access eBay. -- Sprint PCS Wireless Web. Sprint PCS pioneered today's wireless data services with the nationwide launch of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web in September 1999. Customers nationwide have clear access to eBay services to browse and search for items, bid on merchandise and confirm trades via the Sprint PCS Wireless Web while using any of 15 Sprint PCS Internet-ready Phones. -- AT&T Digital PocketNet Service. As a premier sponsor on AT&T's just- launched PocketNet service, eBay can be accessed via the new Ericsson R280LX or Mitsubishi MobileAccess T-250 mobile phones, which contain the Phone.com micro-browser and utilize the new Tegic T-9 "quick-type" key pads. -- OmniSky Corporation. eBay is a major content provider for Omnisky's wireless Internet service for Palm V. eBay's content is dynamically available through a wireless connection, which makes access to web links faster, saves memory on the Palm V and ensures that users automatically have the most up-to-date content from their favorite online trading community. -- Phone.com. eBay and 2Roam utilized the Phone.com software developers kit (UP.SDK(TM)) to aid in designing the eBay mobile Web site and graphical user interface for mobile phones. By using the UP.SDK, eBay has ensured that its site is designed to look great over services from any of Phone.com's 58 worldwide wireless network operator customers, including Sprint PCS and AT&T Wireless. Phone.com is a leading provider of Internet software, applications, and services that enable the delivery of Internet-based information and voice services to mass-market wireless telephones. -- OracleMobile. A leader in building mobile portals for consumers, Internet companies and enterprises, OracleMobile plans to provide access to eBay through its consumer wireless portal at oraclemobile.com. Now, eBay customers on the go will be able to get access to eBay from their wireless device through OracleMobile, via web-phones, pagers, Palms and other wireless personal digital assistants. eBay and OracleMobile customers are expected to be able to monitor auctions and make bids at any time, from any location. eBay is also working to bring wireless access to its international sites. eBay has WAP phone access in Germany and Australia and plans to bring this to Japan later this year. In UK, www.ebay.co.uk is enabled for WAP and SMS protocols and expects to launch these services this summer. Details of how to get access to eBay from any Internet-enabled mobile device can be found at (www.ebay.com/anywhere). About eBay eBay (www.ebay.com), the world's personal trading community(TM), pioneered person-to-person online trading. Founded in 1995, eBay has developed an efficient and entertaining trading site on the Web that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. eBay has more than 12 million registered users. Currently, there are more than 4 million items listed for sale. More than 500,000 items are added daily in more than 4,300 categories, including: antiques; automotive; books, movies and music; coins and stamps; collectibles; computers; dolls and figures; jewelry and gemstones; photos and electronics; pottery and glass; sports memorabilia; and toys. SOURCE eBay Inc. -0- 05/22/2000 /CONTACT: Russell Brady, 408-558-6036, rbrady@ebay.com, or Jennifer Chu, 408-558-7432, jchu@ebay.com, both of eBay Inc./ /Photo: NewsCom: newscom.com newscom.com AP Archive: photoarchive.ap.org PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467/ /Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 132637/ /Web site: ebay.com -- SFM068 -- 3657 05/22/2000 08:05 EDT prnewswire.com Copyright PR Newswire 1998. 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